The S&S thoughts: Sincere and Silly. From the beaches of the Hawaiian shores to the Inland Empire of the Southern California landscape, to the high arches of St. Louis to the cultural history of Memphis, to where I call home now, this is my story, thoughts and hopes.

WoW TONO Thoughts

DEFINED ME ...

Some might say that I am off-the-wall, but I am right-on-the-shelf in the library under unique, Made-in-Hawaii, TONO.--July 2004

GOD'S WISDOM ...

I define true wisdom when God is magnified and glorified through His character. I am privileged to play a role with believers and stories where God and His Son is exalted! For God, be the praise and honor!--August 15, 2009

This turns out to be the #1 personal story of 2009, the pictures and the experience. It was a little more than a full week of FUN with my Sunshine. It might have been cloudy on certain days. But she was there to shine the light on the journey.

We thought we'd share the beauty of the Smoky Mountains. It was our third trip there. We circled the Mountains, and drove through part of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
I will work on the story ... the TONO thoughts later in the week ... in between work!

November 2010

November 30, 2010

It’s a wonder that with the technology we have there are many people, like myself, who sometimes feel in any given circumstances that we are facing all our challenges in life on our own. I read it many times in the stories on the news and the posting on the Internet. Even at work, as much as companies encourage teamwork, it’s really about everyone for themselves. Or am I wrong?

In our personal lives we are treated like a number to get more “friends” on social networks. Probably, most of the time there is really no real connection. In our professional lives, most of the time we are treated as just a number because we are asked to “produce results” to keep our jobs.

Ron Shaich, the co-founder and executive chairman of Panera Bread has an article in the Nation’s Restaurant News, suggests that progressive companies need to compensate managers who are “profit centers driving long-term customer satisfaction and value creation,” and paying hourly employees “for long-term performance rather than viewing labor cost to be reduced.”

I would suggest to the human resource executives and managers everywhere. As Ron Shaich says, retain the managers and employees who have integrity as a jewel possession. The skill can always be taught with the right mindset. With that in mind, these managers and employees will definitely produce the results. It is really hard to find honest employees today with a teachable heart. The values that anyone has is more important than the end results that people can provide for any company, because without integrity and honesty the results will not be long-term profit centers years and years to come.

On the personal side, we—including myself—have to just work on being more accessible to those who matter to us on a weekly/daily basis because we are the living instruments of the character of Jesus Christ. It’s about being real to them and being something that would make them feel that we are not alone in the world facing the challenges in life on our own.

November 23, 2010

In the past, I have wondered why so many fans have followed the Harry Potter series. During the last few years, after meeting my wife, I have seen her family and her watch the previous movies on DVD over and over again. Now, I definitely know why. I thought that it would be nice to watch the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 with my wife on Monday night, the first week it was released, even though I haven’t followed the series from the beginning (nor have I read any of the books). I thought that I would go with her because it is important to her, I wanted to spend time with her, and as she says I have had her watch all the NASCAR races that we’ve traveled through the years. It was the first time I watched the series at the theater.

As someone who hasn’t followed the series as intently as many others, I was wondering if I would have understood many of the plot’s twist and turns. I actually did in this movie. I also was told by my wife what parts was different than the book—and I didn’t even have read it! What a bonus! I really enjoyed the movie, also. So if you are like me, and haven’t followed the series, it was an enjoyable movie. I would recommend you all watching it. It helped that my wife was with me to spend the time with, since we don’t have that much time together.

November 19, 2010

The 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup series will end this season in disappointment for me again, but only with a hope for the longevity of the sport itself. It is the only sport that I choose to follow on a regular basis; it’s not about the NFL, MLB or NBA, or even the NHL, which I have followed in the past. The 2010 year season compared to the 2009 season has noticed a drop in television viewers. For the FOX network, the viewership was down 7.05%; for TNT was down 13.4%, and up to the race in Texas the audience has taken a 21.8% down for ESPN. It is a concern.

Many people I know don’t understand how I can be interested in the sport. It’s not all about watching a car go around and around on an oval track. I view the sport as the planning preparation for the weekly event with all the different scenarios. It’s about a business. For each of the successful racing teams, it takes about $20 million dollars to make a run for the Sprint Cup championship. It takes a team working together to make a run to the championship. The team also represents business sponsors who spend millions to have a race team promote their business. And then, there are the drivers, who sometimes just don’t exhibit the “right” representative of their business sponsor.

I specifically mention the driver who is disliked the most: Kyle Busch. In Texas, when he was on pit road. He tried to beat the leading field to the start/finish line, so that he didn’t go a lap down. When he did race the field, he was caught speeding to the line. He was told that he would have to come back to pit road, park his car for a one-lap penalty. While he was parked, he demonstrated “the bird” to the NASCAR official. I could see it live because it was captured by the in-car camera. Because of his behavior, he was penalized for another two laps, and later he was fined $25,000.

I am sad for M&Ms, Interstate Batteries, Pedigree Dog Food, Double Mint Gum and Snickers who are the primary sponsors of Kyle Busch’s race team. I would not be happy as a CEO of the company to be sponsoring the type of immature personality of a Kyle Busch. Further, in the past, he has always blamed others for his misfortunates of not winning races.

It was reported earlier this week on the Sirius blog that Joe Gibbs, the owner of his team commented about the incident: “(It) was not good for us at Joe Gibbs Racing, and it certainly wasn’t good for our sponsor,” he said. “We feel like there was a plan that we had to put out there, to assure that this doesn’t happen again. We’re going to keep that in-house, but it’s something that we think is smart, and Kyle does too. He realizes where he is, and that’s a great part of this. We just have to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

I am somewhat mixed about the feeling about Jimmie Johnson, the four-time consecutive Sprint Cup champion. I strongly believe that every sport needs a good drama to attract interest. I think that having a four-time consecutive champion doesn’t help the sport. If there is the same storyline year after year, the fans just don’t sit next to the television and waste their time having the same conclusion. Jimmie Johnson doesn’t believe that he isn’t the cause of the decline in viewership and fan attendance at the race tracks.

Pointing to that, however, Jimmie Johnson has accomplished something in the sport that no one else has in its history. His abilities are something not to overlook. There is something that many drivers—and people—can learn from his racing team working together for a common goal.

This is the final weekend at Homestead-Miami, Florida of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. It’s disappointing that the three NASCAR drivers are none of the few who are my favorites. From Sunday’s events (which I will watch later), I hope that the competition will be compelling such that the television viewers and race track attendance will improve to cause the sport to thrive!

November 15, 2010

I have been thinking about writing this article for a long time commenting about an article in the local paper, the Star-Advertiser. Since question and answer sessions are going on across the Internet, I thought that I would take the time to write the article in the context of this question: What’s your favorite memory of the place(s) where you grew up?

As many of you know—or if you don’t—I grew up in Hawaii, on the main island of Oahu. I lived there for over thirty years. I am thankful and blessed to be born there and lived there for, still, most of my life.

Most people outside Hawaii know about Pearl Harbor, Waikiki, Punchbowl and Hanauma Bay. The one place out of those listed I hung out when I lived there on an on-going basis was Waikiki. I remembered catching The Bus, the great mode of transportation on the main island.

From the Star-Advertiser article, I thought that I would comment about the rankings in each category. The following is the categories that piqued my interest:

Hawaii’s Best Chinese Food: (not listed) Hee Hing Restaurant This restaurant is on Kapahulu Avenue. I must have gone there at least a few times a month. I remembered walking in and the servers knew what I wanted: Look Fun in soup with Roast Duck on top. I would also get the cold ginger chicken, too.

Hawaii’s Best Bento: Zippy’s This restaurant was one of the few that was opened 24 hours. The Zip pack is something I used to get when I went there.

Hawaii’s Best Buffet: Sizzler Restaurant Hawaii The location is no longer there, but I was hanging out at the one in Waikiki. I think it’s no longer there.

Hawaii’s Best Poke: Foodland Super Market Yes … poke is raw fish. It was good with seaweed, soy sauce and onions. I had a location where I last lived, less than two blocks away. When I rode The Bus, I passed the store every time.

Hawaii’s Best Drugstore/Pharmacy: Long’s Drug Store From when we were younger, my grandmother and aunt took us to this store every time. It was the “in” place to shop.

Hawaii’s Best Shopping Center: Ala Moana Center This was the shopping center where it used to be a one-stop shop for anything I needed when I was growing up. It’s changed, though. The “local” stores are no longer there. Mostly, now, it’s the chain stores just like found on the continental U.S.A.

The one place that is not in the article is the hang out when I needed to do some thinking. I walked around the Ala Moana Beach Park. The park was a walk across the park, through Ala Moana Center and onto The Bus when I didn’t have a car. It was a good place to watch the sunset. It was a place where I could watch the waves crash against the shores. It was very peaceful, and I enjoyed the time.

November 11, 2010

Last night for our Wednesday evening Bible sermon, we covered the 1st chapter of Colossians. The following Scripture verses 9-12 “spoke” to me:

“﻿﻿9 Therefore, from the day we heard this, we do not cease praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding

﻿10﻿ to live in a manner worthy of the Lord, so as to be fully pleasing, in every good work bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God,

﻿11﻿ strengthened with every power, in accord with his glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy

﻿12﻿ giving thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light.”

The verses made me realize we always have to pray and know the character of God through the life of Jesus Christ. We always have to trust in Him through the prompting of the Holy Spirit to do the “right” thing. There will always be the struggle because of our natural nature, and the flesh and our rebellious nature that opposes living up to the word of God.

The verse along with many of the realizations lately personally in my life made a light bulb go off in my head how I have affected other people’s lives as a leader, and it might not have been in the most inspiring way. If I could, I would have handled many circumstances differently, being more understanding, where I would have listened to employees more and not overreacted. If you are reading this and you feel that you were one of these employees and/or co-workers, let me apologize for my behaviors.

There is no doubt that if I could re-live some of the situations in my past, I would do it differently. But I have to look forward and in the future. I will definitely take what I’ve learned from the past and, hopefully, don’t make the same mistake again. This is what I believe will be the beginning of my fresh start.

November 10, 2010

There comes a point in our lives that we have to change direction, commit to do things differently than we have. It’s my quest to broaden my horizons, to get out of the usual comfort zone. I have done well, sort of speak, in the moves from one city to the next. I pray that soon I’ll get the opportunity with some changes with how I demonstrate who I am at work and commit to the passions that are important. This is my prayers, and I hope that you are praying the same for me, too! Until the day I’m six foot under, many would say that it’s never too late to change the direction; it is a decision point to live life differently. I hope that is so.

Former U.S. President George W. Bush released his book about his presidency on Tuesday. I am presently starting to read through the major crisis he faced during his eight years. It’s fascinating how others face “big” decisions in their lives.

There’s a time that something happens to prompt us to take an inside-out look at where we are in life. I am more faced with this reality than before, because of common themes in my life to improve me, to make changes within my life to be more of the image of Jesus Christ.

I have a clear direction of what my values are. I pray that I can work at demonstrating in action what those values are with a fresh start—looking forward, not at the past, doing different things, not just the same activities the same way. Time will tell how my demonstration goes.

November 02, 2010

With the work schedule that I have been on track the last several weeks, it's been tough getting leisure time together--other than when we go on vacation together. My Sunshine and I were talking about the wish for us on an on-going basis for the next several years of visiting various cities at the employers' expense. We thought that it would have been neat if we could both have jobs that would let us travel around the nation, visit the places and attractions that we would like to take pictures and experience, and then leave and move onto the next location. I thought it would be cool to make visits to the following cities listed below in two-year spans. The companies we work for could pay for us to stay in the cities. That would be really cool! These are the cities I thought would be where we would go:

New York, NY

Washington D.C.

Las Vegas

Chicago

Denver, CO

Southern CA

San Francisco

Somewhere in Texas

Orlando, FL This is to get a season pass for DisneyWorld to ride every ride, and visit every park multiple times till we are tired of the world Disney!

Another visit to Hawaii: Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island

I know it’s just a wish because the economy is struggling as it is, and we don't have jobs that offer that as our work duties. Futhermore, no company is willing to invest in that type of management model right now. But it was nice to consider.

November 01, 2010

It’s been an intense several weeks since getting back from our Florida vacation trip to DisneyWorld and Harry Potter theme park. We had three of the four salaried managers on vacation consecutively with the General Manager going for training for a week right after I arrived back to work. Because we are down one trained salaried manager, it was a six-day work week for all the managers. I have been challenged in many aspects of my own personal development, which I am thankful for.

On my Sunshine and my wedding anniversary day, we drove out to a local spot where we took pictures two hours after our wedding. It was supposed to be a location that had a mountain backdrop with some “colors.” It didn’t have that much in 2007. You can compare the pictures as best as I could take the same area.

This site was taken in 2007 right when we arrived after our wedding.

To the right one of the trees in the above picture.

Picture of wedding party at the lake's site with the hope of colors. ... Not much...

Pictured from 2010 Wedding Anniversary day

The sun was not out last Wednesday. It was more of my Sunshine day. She likes it cloudy, more than sunny. On our wedding day, it was sunny.

We had dinner at The Melting Pot starting at 4:30pm, so that we could attend church to top off the evening, because I had to open the restaurant the next morning.